80Tiger

There is the theory that they are trying to "run" him into shape. Pettaway pretty much did not participate in the spring, had no real live fall practice either and missed the first game. Evidently he is dealing with a foot issue that could limit his practice each week. The argument could be made that he is not game shape ready and the only time he can get himself ready is by carrying the ball a lot during a game. The only time he is anywhere near full speed is on game day when his foot has been numbed up. This is a theory that I have heard others mention. It is not mine and have not decided if it holds water or not.

You think those are designed plays? "Ridley you go long. Hurts you throw it to Ridley or run if he is not open". Hurts is running instead of looking to his second or third option. I read today that Ridley has been targeted 33 times this year and the next most targeted guy is 6. They have been running a lot of pistol and shotgun for a while now. If they ran 2 tight ends it is because OJ Howard was split in the slot. Everbody offense changes to their talent. Ours have. We quit running run option after Nick Marshall left but we were a very good running team. Our offense looks nothing like 2013/2014 so Gus has changed doesn't mean it's always good.

As I previously said his personnel is different. His offense this year is much like his offense from when Coker was QB scheme wise. It's just that Hurts pull the ball down and runs it where Coker does not. Our 2009 and 2010 offense were mostly the same just that our QB were greatly different in talent. I see no resemblance of UA offense this year to our 2010 offense.

His personnel is different ,not his offense. Hurts is DT but they run very few plays that are called runs or read option for Hurts. He gets his running yardage because he pulls the ball down and runs when the pocket collapses. It is very much a drop back scheme though.

What did Saban change besides getting better talent? He changed coaches every once in a while. Pretty much same offense and defense since he has been in Tuscaloosa.

Need to have a couple of set series for him to play. Maybe one in the second and at least one in the fourth. Not mop up duty but run the offense. Urban Meyer did this with Tebow when he was a freshman. Seems like he always got him into the game no matter the situation. Willis needs game speed experience.

I am always amazed at this type statement. Not particularly you Time but in general. Many on this board say that the PTB meddle too much and drive off a coach. At the same time we have many clamoring that someone has to tell Gus to "turn over the offense to CL"; quit carrying a clip board, let the OC call the game". So which is it? Do we want "someone" telling Gus he can't be involved with calling plays or do we want the PTB to stay our of it?

Because the guy has been right so many times it is not funny. Some of it is his opinion which is also fine. You would not know that since you only came on the board recently; and that was to spew your baseless information and crap from day one. I called you a bammer in another post and that is what you are.

Blah, blah, blah. Since you recently started posting, you have really brought nothing that I have read that to me has any validity. This post is a perfect example. While Saban is a control freak, they have no more "excellence" than anyone else. Their off field issues are like everyone else's if not worse. That is not excellence. They win because they have the best players. How they get them is open for discussion. While there is a lot to be negative about AU football you spew negativity. From early on your tone of post left me wondering about you, but now it is confirmed. You are a bammer.

Why not? From the truly mercenary position, 4 or 5 years at most of these schools, can make for a very nice retirement nest egg one day. Most will continue to work in sometype coaching/analyst capacity also.

Like a lot of people I am using the board as a therapeutic release after last night so here are some of my thoughts. O Line- We are not as talented as we thought. Our tackles are a guy who couldn't crack the line up on some of Texas worst teams and a guy who really has never played the position. Not sure about LG, jury is out and center and RG are supposed to be our stalwarts but they got whipped pretty consistently last night. RB- Injuries are going to be the issue for us probably all year. KJ history shows that and KP is starting off in a bad way. Not sure what has happened to Miller. The invisible man. The other guys are roll players. We need to get healthy fast. Receivers- This group has me scratching my head. You can talk about routes and play calling, but good receivers get open. They come back to the ball; they break off routes and come back to a QB in trouble. They make plays. Have not seen this at all from our group. Big disappointment here. QB- Bigger disappointment. I thought JS was the piece of the missing puzzle. In both games he has been hesitant and not very accurate. His scramble ability has been average. Has not particularly extended plays. When he starts moving it seems he loses sight of downfield hence all the sacks. Defense- Line and LB did good. DB not as much. Carlton Davis seems to have regressed. Coaching- Many of our coaches are in over their heads. There were questions about Herb Hand before he got here. We are giving KB on the job training and probably for Chip Lindsey also. I think Gus has finally convinced everyone he cannot coach at this level. The problem is JJ may not survive the softball fiasco. If he does not does our new president want to deal with finding a new AD and new HC?

While a great post and discussion, in watching the game live and the first replay (from the endzone), Hastings was open. He had a couple of steps on his guy. The pass was underthrown allowing the defender to make up the ground and intercept the ball. I also don't think JS hesitated on the throw; he takes the snap, drops back a few steps, sets and throw. Looks just underthrown to me.

Haven't you learned by now 64, that this board is full of former P5 head coaches that were highly successful and know better than Gus or CL.

That is truly an interesting statistic. I could see having an anomaly for maybe a year, but for multiple years indicates our defenses have not been ball hawks when it comes to defense. To me, that is a coachable issue.

Not trying to throw cold water on the D performance last week, but Ga So O was not very good and it looks as if they have never heard of the word pass. If you are only having to defend one element of an offense, it does make it easier. We will definitely see this weekend. But it was a good performance. As for the scoring shutout be quarters, I wonder if it correlates to overall avg points per game given up. We have almost doubled the amount is scoreless quarters. That means our total points per game given up should almost be cut in half.